Questioning Service delivery in Kabarole District:

Like any other day of the last month of the government year, 27^th  June, 2012, was a big step in questioning service delivery in Kabarole district. The monitors in Busoro sub county, Kabarole  district, organized a joint monitoring exercise with the district water department, sub county leadership and the community on Wednesday, 27^th June, 2012. Morning was cool and all monitors assembled at the sub county for a briefing by the team leaders. Present were: The Chairperson LCIII Busoro, Mr. John Young, Health Inspector, Incharge Rwengaju HCII, sub county councilors, community monitors led by Mr. Paul. In attendance was also Ms. Margerate Abwooli, staff RIDE Africa, and the RWECO staff.

Going by the word, the team headed to Ibale parish to monitor the newly constructed shallow well. At the shallow well, the community were already mobilized by the local councilors and pointed out their concerns regarding the shallow well. Important to note was that the shallow well had never been handed over to the community and no water user management committee had been elected- the big question asked was, how did the contractor execute work without a project management committee? The LCIII chair was caught in surprise and could not answer. While the health inspector gave his opinion the community could not accept any explanation without the shallow well being handed over and all structures put in place. Vigilant to public service delivery in the parish, the Bataka immediately summoned the LCIII chairperson for a meeting at the shallow well to sort out the mess and fix the gaps. The meeting was scheduled for Saturday 7th  July, 2012

LCIII Chair, holding bottle after tasting the water from the shallow well

The monitoring team headed to Rwengaju Parish, Busoro Sub county, Kabarole district. Rwengaju Parish is “UN Village” a food basket for Kabarole and Uganda. We headed to monitor the shallow well, but what did the community say about the shallow well “ IZIBA LYA CHAIRMANI” loosely translated the Shallow well for the Chairman LCI. Only to reach there, the  shallow well  had been abandoned by the bataka because the water was salty. Armed to the teeth, the LCIII chairperson defied the rules and tasted the water- “ halimu ekisura”, then the health inspector tasted “ the water is salty” one of the monitors asked, was there any testing of the water? The Health inspector, replied that, all the three tastes were done and the water was approved to be good for drinking and use but only the bataka had not been sensitized to use the water, the water user management committee was not doing their work as per the guidelines. That’s how public funds can go to waste asserted a female monitor. Mr. Jimmy Odyek, asked the LCIII chairperson how much funds had been spent on the shallow well, the team was informed that UGX 3,800,000/= had been spent, and that for the sub county had constructed 103 shallow wells, about UGX 391,400,000/= serving a population of 35000 people. At that shallow well, all the participants in the monitoring exercise realized that government funds can go to waste if not well monitored as we met children and elderly women fetching water at the nearest un protected water point that was presumably tasty for drinking and washing clothes. What a day in Rwengaju a “UN Village”

Monitors at Rwengaju HCII

Everybody encouraged to find a better reason to explain his/her time during the day, we all headed to Rwengaju Health Center II, where the In-Charge had joined the monitoring team. At the HCII, we met the staff on duty who moved us around the health unit. Sanitation was clean, water available in the water harvesting tank, toilets clean, reason headed by the woman one monitor lamented. Then I took a keen eye, indeed I went to the toilets to justify the comments “ all was clean” that showed how female nurses were managers. What about the funding- we established that, each financial year, an indicative planning figure (PHC) of UGX 1,800,000/= was given to the HUMAC, but how much actually was released was UGX 850,000/= targeting 9000 people in Rwengaju Parish, “UN village”. Lets subject this to mathematics pa capita expenditure= 850000/9000= 94.4. When the analyst mentioned that Ugx. 94.4, was meant for PHC per person for the whole year, the team burst into laughter of annoyance. How can that be? But it has happened, more so the incharge informed the team that the Ugx 850,000/= was not a guarantee.

Immediately the community monitors realized the need for community monitoring and feedback from the leaders. During the session of sharing the monitoring sharing at Rwengaju Parish hall, it was recommended that the sub county leadership should sensitized the community about water and sanitation, health and education. RIDE Africa was asked to participate in the exercise where they pledged a radio talkshow to the LCIII Chairperson.

What was my take from the monitoring exercise:

Local solutions to local problems by the concerned people, other then waiting for the presidential pledge of constructing a GFS to serve Rwengaju, the local leadership can still do a lot in sensitizing and involving the local community.

Government program if not well monitored can go to waste as evidenced by the abandoned shallow well in Rwengaju, I believe there are many more projects that have been abandoned due  to poor workmanship in the country side.

Monitors and RWECO staff, admire the Busoro magnificent Kyaninga hotel

Local initiatives are more sustainable than top down projects- that elderly woman who mentioned that “ iziba la chairmani”  is an indicator  that the  project  was top down, if we go by that, we can find many more projects of that nature.

What about the social life in Rwengaju “UN Village” the monitoring team visited one of the places to be while in Busoro sub county.. out of town, environmentally friendly  with the most attractive Tooro scenery- Kyaninga Hotel in the heart of Busoro sub county

Compiled by:

RWECO Staff in the field